Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/03/20

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Subject: [Leica] Re: What are your secrets to handheld shots?
From: "Gary Todoroff" <datamaster@humboldt1.com>
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2000 01:17:58 -0800

Target-shooting techniques seem to naturally come to mind, especially how I
learned when NOT to shoot. When I waited too long, the shot inevitably went
bad. After doing it wrong a few thousand times during practice and matches,
I finally learned to just put everything down, take a few calm breaths and
start all over again. Problem was, that perfect time was often just a few
milliseconds before everything started to go bad!

With photography, it's harder, since your target is usually changing, too.
But, like in target shooting, when everything "clicks", you know that the
photo is a 10X without even seeing the neg. Boy, that feels great!

With aerial photography, I have to do the opposite of all my usual instincts
about bracing the camara, elbows, etc. Instead, I have to make sure
everything is as "loose" as I can get it so my body acts as a shock absorber
and doesn't transfer any airframe vibrations to the camera. It sure bugs me
that I can still get an unsharp image even when shooting at 1/500th.

Regards,
Gary Todoroff
Tree  LUGger